Gopher Rifle & Revolver Club hosted the Third Annual Fullbore State Championship Match on May 5-7th. Shooters from Wisconsin, North Dakota & Texas joined 23 “Minnesotans” to shoot the 500, 600, 900 & 1000 yard match.

Friday - Calm skies & a high of 70. Is summer approaching? Target Rifle “Sling” - Erik “Rowdy” Rhode won the first, third & fourth matches (perhaps this was a sign…). Stacy “The Hammer” Tamulinas stole the 500yd match with a clean 150-9x. Down in the combined Master/Expert/Sharpshooter class, the wins were spread between “Smilin’ Jeff” Jezierski, “Cap’n Bob” Peasley, Eliot “the Mad Serbian” Zunich & Craig “Bennis the Menace” Bennis. F-TR – Drew Rutherford buzzed in from North Dakota to make a clean sweep. F-Open – Can you say dog fight? Mike Lehmeier was the top dog in the first match. By the end of the day, Pat Scully (580-16x) felt Eric Johnson (579-11x) nipping at his heels and Mike Jones (577-16x) clamped on to his tail.

Interestingly, just as the final “cease fire” was called the switching winds made their appearance. Would this be a sign of things to come...

Saturday – Did I mention switching wind? Target Rifle “Sling” - “Rowdy” Rhode cleaned the first match (hmmm... trend?) & the fourth. In between, Steve “Knuuuuute” Knutson and Jay “All American” Johnson took the 500 & 900 yard matches. The Mad Serbian and The Menace split the class winners. F-TR – Andy Jewison joined the crowd, determined to defend his title. Taking 3 of 4 is a good way to start. Greg Siefert got away with the 2nd. F-Open – If you want to be the Big Dog, win 2 matches & be class winner in another. That’s what Eric Johnson (586-25x) did. Just a sniff behind was Pat Scully (586-24x). Hot on the trail were Adam Shidla (584-23x) and a new dog on the block, Rick Sievers (583-18x). If you want to know what the winds were like, twenty shooters split 44 x’s for the 1000 yard match.

Sunday – Decision Time. Target Rifle “Sling” – “Knuuuuute” Knutson stole the first two matches from “Rowdy” Rhode, but couldn’t hold him off for the third. “Bennis the Menace” followed the lead of “Knuuuuute” with 2 class winners, dropping the 1000 match to “Cap’n Bob”. F-TR – Andy Jewison showed he meant business, winning 2 of 3. F-Open – Who let the Dogs out? Rick Sievers burst ahead of the pack (440-16x) and won 2 of 3. Not wanting the “back of the pack view”, Pat Scully dug up a match Winner to total 439-18x and Eric Johnson retrieved a 438-18x.